In new book, Pat Riley opens up about his relationship with LeBron James: ‘He did the right thing’ when he left Miami

LeBron James #6 of the Miami Heat celebrates with team President Pat Riley in the locker room following the Heat’s victory against the San Antonio Spurs in Game Seven of the 2013 NBA Finals on June 20, 2013 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

MIAMI — As the old cliche goes, time heals all wounds.

That’s even true for Heat president Pat Riley. In a new book written by Ian Thomsen titled, “The Soul of Basketball: The Epic Showdown between LeBron, Kobe, Doc and Dirk that Saved the NBA,” Riley said LeBron James “did the right thing” when he left the Heat to sign with the Cavaliers in the summer of 2014.

But Riley admitted that he was “absolutely livid” in the days immediately following James’ decision.

“While there may have been some carnage always left behind when he made these kinds of moves, in Cleveland and also in Miami, he did the right thing. I just finally came to accept the realization that he and his family said, ‘You’ll never, ever be accepted back in your hometown if you don’t go back to try to win a title. Otherwise someday you’ll go back there and have the scarlet letter on your back. You’ll be the greatest player in the history of mankind, but back there, nobody’s really going to accept you.'”

Riley also revealed that he had no contact with James after his departure from Miami until the 2016 NBA Finals, when Cleveland defeated Golden State in Game 7 to win the championship.

“I didn’t want to send him anything that he could read before he hit the floor,” Riley said. “As soon as he hit the floor, I sent a text to him. I said, ‘Win this and be free.’

“He never got back to me with a response. In fact, he said something after the game.”

After James won the title, he told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin: “When I decided to leave Miami — I’m not going to name any names, I can’t do that – but there were some people that I trusted and built relationships with in those four years [who] told me I was making the biggest mistake of my career. And that s— hurt me. And I know it was an emotional time that they told me that because I was leaving. They just told me it was the biggest mistake I was making in my career. And that right there was my motivation.”

Riley told Thomsen: “It wasn’t me. I never said anything to him. … That’s one of LeBron’s greatest traits, that somewhere in him there’s such a competitive thing that he’s going to find something to motivate himself to win.”

There’s one problem with all of this, though. Miami currently lacks the salary-cap space to sign James in free agency.

The Heat are already close to the luxury tax line with 11 players under contract for 2018-19 who are due a combined $119 million. That puts Miami way above the projected $101 million salary cap and very close to the projected $123 million luxury tax line, and definitely not in position to sign a max player like James unless it can shed a lot of salary.

* There’s another interesting anecdote involving the Heat from the “The Soul of Basketball.” Riley revealed in the book that the day after the Heat’s loss to Dallas in November 2010 that dropped them to 9-8 in the beginning of the Big Three Era, he met with James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to check on how they were feeling.

“They just said, ‘We’re not feeling it,’ or something like that,” Riley said to Thomsen. “We talked about the typical things that we have to do, have patience and all of that stuff.

“And I remember LeBron looking at me, and he said, ‘Don’t you ever get the itch?’ I said, ‘The itch for what?’ He said, ‘The itch to coach again?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t have the itch.’ He didn’t ask any more questions, and I didn’t offer any more answers. But I know what it meant, and I always go back and wonder about what he was thinking at that time. He walked out scratching his leg like it was itching.”

Riley also said in the book that he was asked about Erik Spoelstra’s future as the Heat’s head coach during the team’s July 2010 free-agent recruiting pitch to James.

“They wanted to know what was going to happen with Erik,” Riley said. “They wondered if I was going to be coaching. I said, ‘Look, Erik is the head coach, that’s it. I support him. I’m not interested in coaching.'”